Saturday 21 April 2012

Skeletons: Raiders of the Undead.

Something nice turned up in the post today:


Yet another eBay purchase for very reasonable money and in absolutely mint condition, even the box insert was still present and unsullied.
Inside a selection of Andy Chernak's finest, better in so many ways than todays huge weapon wielding & generally OTT offerings:


Of particular note are the following three, firstly a skeletal knight in full plate:


A more ancient undead with a nicely embossed shield and scorpion crested helmet, I particularly like the way the pincers form an eye guard:


And finally an aggressive looking axeman:


In all fairness all of the figures are pretty good, I like these because they will fit nicely into the Retro Dungeon. The knight & axeman will serve as recently killed adventurers freshly risen by evil sorceries and the kraken shielded fellow looks like an archaic guardian for some ancient treasure.
The box insert included really does reflect the times this boxed set was produced in:


1982 was a fairly active time in the history of roleplaying, particularly D&D and the inclusion of a dungeon floor plan and description ( on the rear of the sheet) is a nice reminder of where things were at with fantasy miniatures then. Superficially this set is aimed at fantasy wargames but I think this box insert gives a truer picture of Grenadiers target market.

3 comments:

  1. That is an awesome score. You seem to get all the best retro stuff. Can't wait to see those skellies painted up.

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  2. It's a very nice set. I had thought I had most of these having accumulated them on various random assortment buys but when I sat down to look at it, I realized my skeletons were from elsewhere. Luckily I was able to pick up a complete set shortly after. Andrew Chernak sculpts from this era are some of my absolute favorites, and these skeletons fit so well with all the other Grenadier ones.

    The lone mounted figure in some sets has always puzzled me a bit... how is one cavalry going to help out the gamer?

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